


MAG-??? The Excursion

by ChucTingle



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Other, Yeehaa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 03:49:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21229310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChucTingle/pseuds/ChucTingle
Summary: Fan Statement about Everett Scrimshaw [OC] and his encounter with the Lonely





	MAG-??? The Excursion

Everett Scrimshaw has always been a lonely person. This is no insult or a guess, he just happens to prefer being alone. He doesn’t enjoy it, as a matter of fact, he hates being alone but he always picks it unknown as to why. 

Everett was touched by the lonely long before he was touched by the flame. He was 12 when it happened. It wasn’t as dramatic as you would expect, there was no lightning or close death experience to talk about. But it was a choice that he made even if he didn’t know he wanted to make it.

It was a school trip. Everett has always loved science, it was one of his favorite things, if not his favorite of all. He had been talking about this excursion for weeks now, ever since it was announced and proudly shared every morning to his father and brother what he investigated ahead.

This is why it should have been a red flag when the day of the trip arrived he looked bored. Not dissatisfied, not angry, just bored. His father wasn’t around that morning, and his brother was a little too preoccupied with his latest escapade to bring it up. Everett walked to school alone that day, he normally took the bus there but this time he didn’t. He walked, he didn’t care if he arrived in time or not.

For his misfortune, he was there just as the vehicle to the museum was arriving. He was packed with the other children in the schoolbus and delivered to a building that he had memorized. The trip was an hour or two away from the school, he thought it was a little closer but he had other things to focus on than bus rides. Young Everett found himself in a building he didn’t care for, surrounded by what he considered a little too excited to show them around.

He stayed on the rear back of the group, occasionally answering questions of the machines he had previously saw online off. Normally this would have been a point of pride and gloat but today it seemed stale. His train of thought was interrupted by a couple questions of his classmates. He found it odd they were directed at him but he could answer them with ease. He got no reply. They stared at him and asked another question about the solar system, as this was the theme of the room everyone was standing. A couple other students turned to stare at Everett as he rattled his memory for an answer he had.

The reply was slow but sure, he knew what he was talking about. The investigation paid off, he thought and one student nodded and everyone collectively moved on to the next room. Even in his young mind he knew something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what it was. As soon as he walked in he could feel the eyes of the teachers and friend, even if they weren’t looking. He knew they were paying attention to his every move, his every breath. 

He shook the feeling off at some sort of hyper awareness scenario and he stayed behind to read some of the posters at his own pace. That’s when he heard his name at the other side of the room. One of the teachers called him over. Everett looked up to see all the kids and teachers all in one group, standing next to each other, almost perfectly. There were no outliers or commotion, no talking, just waiting. He walked forward but as soon as he gave a step he was asked a question. How deep was the ocean?

He didn’t know the answer to that, and as the realisation washed over he could see the smile of the group grow. Come on, Everett. What is it? He heard from the cluster of people that awaited for him on the other end of the room. He struggled with words, hesitating, said that he couldn’t know, that nobody knew. And that was met with laughter. Poor dumb Everett. The teacher explained about the deep vast sea and gave a number he had never heard before. This is when he was asked another question. Which was the biggest animal on the ocean? Blue whales right? Giant squids? He was right, he knew he was right and yet, he was wrong. The words that came out of the guide for the place explaining sounded so foreign as he mentioned animals that didn’t sound real. Vast things in the ocean beyond the realms of studies. He wasn’t afraid of that, but the grip on his backpack showed he was afraid of other things in there.

That was his day, every room he walked in he was showered with questions or demonstrations, he didn’t know why. He didn’t have what everyone wanted to know all the time and he struggled and stammered as the eyes followed him. He could hear the laughter or the mockery when he failed to know but worst of all, the silence when he did have the correct answer. It seemed that whenever he replied correctly, it was ignored, replied with the correct answers that sounded like a lot of gibberish made up on the spot, things that he could only hear in his wild dreams.

By the time he started crying, no one seemed to notice. He was asked once more another question about the extent of the universe and he couldn’t reply. Words caught in his throat as his teachers didn’t even blink when he was mocked for being unaware. It was a dreadful day of slow torture, and he felt it weighing on him all until the garden.

Something glimmered in his eyes. It was a big blooming garden, connected to a hibernary with all sorts of plants, and unlike the small rooms building, it was big enough that he could get space from everyone else. Everett ran to the furthest corner and rested. But it wasn’t enough, he could hear the voices approaching and he couldn’t fail again, he didn’t know anything about plants. Why would he? But he knew he was expected to know. He just wanted to be left alone and run away.

His time ended up too quickly. Voices of the teachers loud and booming as everyone was called back. He heard his name and that was the moment he knew he couldn’t make it through another room of this. He ran, over the fence and into the woods, he ran and didn’t stop until he couldn’t see the museum anymore. But he could still hear them, all of them, they wanted him. Panic rushed through his veins as the voices grew louder and louder, even if he couldn't see anybody coming out of the building he knew they were close.

This is when he noticed the birds, screaming loud with the voices of his friends and teachers, loud following him, hounding him for answers. Everett threw his backpack and then, ran into another direction. He ran as far as his energy would give, as far as his legs would take him. But he didn’t stop then, he could still hear it, the question, the drilling questions. Now the noise of the birds and animals, the sounds of nature being too inquiring for him, too stressful to be around. 

And then he heard footsteps, booming loud like a giant across the trees. There was nowhere to go. At the corner of his vision he saw what seemed to be an slope and without hesitation he went downwards. Covered in scratches now Everett saw a small spot between the a big old tree and the slope he just came from. Using what he could he went into the crack and hid there. He rushedly covered the entrance and laid his back at the end of the hole, panting.

If he was honest with himself he didn’t know the moment he stopped crying, all the he remembers now is how quiet it was. Nothing but the stillness, of the place and the soft breeze that went over the grass. He heard no animals or people, the voices all gone in a matter of seconds, it was perfect. He didn’t move an inch. He didn’t want to move and inch. He didn’t want to be found.

And even when he tried the noise of his own movement now resonated loud. He took a deep breath that to him sounded like a tornado and he heard them again, the voices. He whimpered in fear and covered his ears. Why was everything so loud. His own agitated breath and tears seemed to be of a storm and the lightning as the water hit the ground. Everett laid down and whimpered, softly before holding shutting his mouth and cried silently. 

He laid down there, at the bottom of the hill, hidden by the tall grass of his little hole and waited until he could hear nothing, and to the endless silence, where he couldn’t even hear his own breathing he fell asleep.

They found him after five days. The next thing Everett knows is that he woke up in the hospital. Despite his scratches he wasn’t hurt. His father, Caelus, questioned him but Everett didn’t want to answer. Something sick formed at his stomach, he almost recoiled at the question. He was going to yell for something instinctive triggered in him and he went quiet. He looked at Caelus and pleaded with his eyes to leave him alone. 

By the time Everett tried to escape from the hospital because the noise of the machines was so loud it made his heart hurt, Caelus knew what was at play here. It hurt but they had to bind him to the bed. Caelus didn’t ask any questions, but that didn’t mean he was going to stand there and see his son consumed by the monster. He put Saturn in charge and left.

Everett doesn’t remember much of this times. Those 3 weeks are a complete blank. At best he knows he got lost in the forest. His father explained it was the trauma and he shouldn’t worry about it. Everett returned to his prideful self in a matter of weeks. Loud, opinionated, excitable. He regrets not remembering the trip to the science museum and his father tells him they will make up for it in the future.

It would be a lie to say that Everett didn’t feel the tug of the loneliness once in a while. Not that it mattered, not when something bigger would take him a few years later.


End file.
